ArticleScience advances2022
β-Endorphin mediates radiation therapy fatigue.
Article in Science advances, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- An experimental study on the role of naloxone in facilitating alcohol metabolism in acute alcohol intoxication rats.Future science OA · 2026Article
- Gut-Brain-Skin Axis: From Mechanistic Insights to Translational Applications in Neurocosmetics.Dermatology and therapy · 2026Review
- Acute Submaximal Running Potentiates the Straub Tail Response to Meperidine in a Dose- and Sex-Dependent Manner in Mice.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2026Article
- The Skin-Brain Axis: From UV and Pigmentation to Behaviour Modulation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Photo-neuro-immuno-endocrinology: How the ultraviolet radiation regulates the body, brain, and immune system.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Patients With Early-Stage Breast Cancer and Radiation Therapy-Related Fatigue: A Prospective Pilot Study.International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics · 2024Article
- Current Insights in Prolactin Signaling and Ovulatory Function.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Involvement of the Opioid Peptide Family in Cancer Progression.Biomedicines · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Fatigue is a common adverse effect of external beam radiation therapy in cancer patients. Mechanisms causing radiation fatigue remain unclear, although linkage to skin irradiation has been suggested. β-Endorphin, an endogenous opioid, is synthesized in skin following genotoxic ultraviolet irradiation and acts systemically, producing addiction. Exogenous opiates with the same receptor activity as β-endorphin can cause fatigue. Using rodent models of radiation therapy, exposing tails and sparing vital organs, we tested whether skin-derived β-endorphin contributes to radiation-induced fatigue. Over a 6-week radiation regimen, plasma β-endorphin increased in rats, paralleled by opiate phenotypes (elevated pain thresholds, Straub tail) and fatigue-like behavior, which was reversed in animals treated by the opiate antagonist naloxone. Mechanistically, all these phenotypes were blocked by opiate antagonist treatment and were undetected in either β-endorphin knockout mice or mice lacking keratinocyte p53 expression. These findings implicate skin-derived β-endorphin in systemic effects of radiation therapy. Opioid antagonism may warrant testing in humans as treatment or prevention of radiation-induced fatigue.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.